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The electronic device according to the present invention comprises a
display housing 120 having a first display unit 124, an operation housing
150 coupled to said display housing so that said operation housing is
movable substantially in parallel to and relative to a surface of said
display housing facing said operation housing, said operation housing
having a second display unit 160 which displays an operation screen and a
touch panel 162 piled on the second display unit so that the operation
screen is visible, a position detection unit 156 for detecting a relative
position of said display housing and said operation housing, and a
control unit for deciding an application displayed on the first display
unit in accordance with the relative position detected by said position
detection unit, wherein said control unit switches the operation screen
displayed on the second display unit in accordance with the application
displayed on the first display unit.

1. An electronic device comprising:a display housing having a first
display unit;an operation housing coupled to said display housing so that
said operation housing is movable relatively to a facing surface to said
display housing in substantially parallel, said operation housing having
a second display unit which displays an operation screen and a touch
panel piled on the second display unit so that the operation screen is
visible;a position detection unit for detecting a relative position of
said display housing and said operation housing; anda control unit for
deciding an application displayed on the first display unit in accordance
with the relative position detected by said position detection unit;
wherein said control unit switches the operation screen displayed on the
second display unit in accordance with the application displayed on the
first display unit.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein when said position
detection unit detects the relative position, said control unit activates
an application corresponding to the relative position and displays
contents of the activated application on the first display unit.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein in the case that
several applications are running at the same time, the control unit
displays the contents of application which corresponds to the
predetermined relative position in the several applications, when said
position detection unit detects the predetermined relative position.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the second display
unit is arranged on the surface of said operation housing which faces
said display housing.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the second display
unit displays the operation screen in accordance with the relative
position detected by said position detection unit, based on a display
areas which are exposed by relative movement of said display housing and
said operation housing, and divided in the relative movement direction of
said display housing and said operation housing.

6. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the touch panel is
formed as a form corresponding to the divided display areas.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1,wherein an application is
assigned to a relative position of said operation housing and said
display housing which can secure display areas required for the display
of the operation screen of the application in the second display unit,
andsaid control unit displays contents of the application corresponding
to the relative position detected by said position detection unit on the
first display unit.

8. An input interface switching method used in an electronic device which
comprises a display housing having a first display unit, an operation
housing coupled to the display housing so that the operation housing is
movable relatively to a facing surface to said display housing, said
operation housing having a second display unit which displays an
operation screen and a touch panel piled on the second display unit so
that the operation screen is visible, comprising:a step for a detecting a
relative position of the display housing and the operation housing; anda
step for switching the operation screen displayed on the second display
unit in accordance with an application decided to be displayed on the
first display unit based on the detected relative position.

9. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the second display
unit is arranged on the surface of said operation housing which faces
said display housing.

10. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the second display
unit is arranged on the surface of said operation housing which faces
said display housing.

11. The electronic device according to claim 2,wherein an application is
assigned to a relative position of said operation housing and said
display housing which can secure display areas required for the display
of the operation screen of the application in the second display unit,
andsaid control unit displays contents of the application corresponding
to the relative position detected by said position detection unit on the
first display unit.

12. The electronic device according to claim 3,wherein an application is
assigned to a relative position of said operation housing and said
display housing which can secure display areas required for the display
of the operation screen of the application in the second display unit,
andsaid control unit displays contents of the application corresponding
to the relative position detected by said position detection unit on the
first display unit.

13. The electronic device according to claim 4,wherein an application is
assigned to a relative position of said operation housing and said
display housing which can secure display areas required for the display
of the operation screen of the application in the second display unit,
andsaid control unit displays contents of the application corresponding
to the relative position detected by said position detection unit on the
first display unit.

14. The electronic device according to claim 5,wherein an application is
assigned to a relative position of said operation housing and said
display housing which can secure display areas required for the display
of the operation screen of the application in the second display unit,
andsaid control unit displays contents of the application corresponding
to the relative position detected by said position detection unit on the
first display unit.

15. The electronic device according to claim 6,wherein an application is
assigned to a relative position of said operation housing and said
display housing which can secure display areas required for the display
of the operation screen of the application in the second display unit,
andsaid control unit displays contents of the application corresponding
to the relative position detected by said position detection unit on the
first display unit.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001]The present invention relates to an electronic device in which a
display housing and an operation housing are coupled so that they are
movable relative to each other, and to an input interface switching
method for the electronic device.

[0002]In recent years, portable terminals represented by mobile phones,
PHS (Personal Handy Phone System), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or
mobile personal computers are becoming smaller, lighter and more
functionally satisfied. There are electronic devices which can have a
compact form when waiting for a call and can be transformed for easy
operation when they are used. Such an electronic device has, for example,
a display housing and an operation housing which are coupled with a rail,
hinge or bearing so that the housings can be variously transformed by
sliding, folding or rotating them.

[0003]There is a known art, for such a transformable electronic device,
that when an operation housing which slides relative to a display housing
is stopped at a predetermined position, an imaging device such as a
camera is activated automatically, as described for example in Patent
Document 1. According to the art, the imaging device can be activated,
not by a troublesome operation but by a simple operation i.e. sliding the
housings. In addition, there is another known art, for a camera with two
slidable housings, that the operation housing is protected when waiting
for a call, and it is exposed by sliding it when it is used, as described
for example in Patent Document 2.

[0004]Besides, there is another known art that a plurality of housing
slide directions are prepared in the same device and a different
application is activated in accordance with the slide direction.
According to the art, for example, a television viewer is activated when
a housing is slid in one direction and an imaging device is activated
when the housing is slid in another direction, as described for example
in Patent Document 3.

[0005]Moreover, there is another known art that a housing is provided with
a plurality of independent layered operation drawers and any one of the
operation drawers is derived, exposed and used selectively, as described
in Patent Document 4.

Patent Document 1: Japan Laid Open Patent 2005-277468

Patent Document 2: Japan Laid Open Patent 2006-313197

Patent Document 3: Japan Laid Open Patent 2005-341480

Patent Document 4: Japan Laid Open Patent 2003-319044

[0006]According to the prior arts, an application can be automatically
activated only by changing relative positions of two housings. However,
since operation keys for operating the application are fixedly arranged,
the function, position and number of the input interface are limited and
therefore various applications cannot be utilized sufficiently.

[0007]Besides, the prior arts use fixedly arranged operation keys (fixedly
arranged input interface) so that it is not possible to change the input
interface for each user. Accordingly, even for a child or old people who
do not need a complicated input interface, the needless operation keys
cannot be eliminated. So, various input interfaces would sometimes
disturb the operation of the device.

[0008]The present invention attempts to solve the above problems. The
object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device and an
input interface switching method, wherein usability of the device is
improved by the applications which can be activated easily and rapidly
and by useful input interfaces.

[0009]In order to solve the above stated problems, according to an aspect
of the present invention, an electronic device comprises: a display
housing having a first display unit; an operation housing coupled to said
display housing so that said operation housing is movable substantially
in parallel to and relative to a surface of said display facing said
operation housing housing, said operation housing having a second display
unit which displays an operation screen and a touch panel piled on the
second display unit so that the operation screen is visible; a position
detection unit for detecting a relative position of said display housing
and said operation housing; and a control unit for deciding an
application displayed on the first display unit in accordance with the
relative position detected by said position detection unit; wherein said
control unit switches the operation screen displayed on the second
display unit in accordance with the application displayed on the first
display unit.

[0010]When said position detection unit detects the relative position,
said control unit may activate an application corresponding to the
relative position and display contents of the activated application on
the first display unit.

[0011]When several applications are running at the same time, said control
unit may display on the first display unit contents of one of the running
applications corresponding to the relative position detected by said
position detection unit.

[0012]The second display unit may be arranged on the surface of said
operation housing which faces said display housing.

[0013]The second display unit may display the operation screen in
accordance with the relative position detected by said position detection
unit, based on divided display areas which are exposed by relative
movement of said display housing and said operation housing arranged in
the relative movement direction of said display housing and said
operation housing.

[0014]The touch panel may be formed as a form corresponding to the divided
display areas.

[0015]An application may be assigned to a relative position of said
display housing and said operation housing by which display areas
required by the operation screen for the application are supplied in the
second display unit, and said control unit may display on the first
display unit contents of the application corresponding to the relative
position detected by said position detection unit.

[0016]In order to solve the above stated problems, according to another
aspect of the present invention, an input interface switching method used
in an electronic device which comprises a display housing having a first
display unit, an operation housing coupled to the display housing so that
the operation housing is movable substantially in parallel to and
relative to a surface of the display housing facing the operation
housing, said operation housing having a second display unit which
displays an operation screen and a touch panel piled on the second
display unit so that the operation screen is visible, may comprise: a
step for a detecting a relative position of the display housing and the
operation housing; and a step for switching the operation screen
displayed on the second display unit in accordance with an application
decided to be displayed on the first display unit based on the detected
relative position.

[0017]The structural elements and their explanations which correspond to
the technological ideas in the electronic device stated above can also be
applied to the input interface switching method.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0018]According to the present invention as explained above, usability of
the electronic device is improved by applications which can be activated
easily and rapidly and by useful input interfaces.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019]FIG. 1 is a block diagram for illustrating schematic functions of
the mobile phone.

[0020]FIG. 2 is a perspective view for illustrating the schematic
structure of the mobile phone.

[0021]FIGS. 3A to 3E are views for illustrating a relationship between two
housings' relative positions and corresponding applications to be
activated.

[0022]FIGS. 4A and 4B are views for illustrating the appearance of the
mobile phone in the close position.

[0023]FIGS. 5A and 5B are views for illustrating the appearance of the
mobile phone in one-slide position.

[0024]FIGS. 6A and 6B are views for illustrating the appearance of the
mobile phone in two-slide position.

[0025]FIGS. 7A and 7B are views for illustrating the appearance of the
mobile phone in three-slide position.

[0026]FIGS. 8A and 8B are views for illustrating the appearance of the
mobile phone in four-slide position (final-slide position).

[0027]FIGS. 9A and 9B are views for illustrating the form of the touch
panel.

[0028]FIGS. 10A and 10B are views for illustrating an arrangement
variation wherein the activating positions for TV viewer and imaging
program are changed.

[0029]FIGS. 11A and 11B are views for illustrating a simple arrangement of
the operation keys.

[0030]FIG. 12 is a flowchart for illustrating the input interface
switching method in detail.

[0031]FIGS. 13A and 13B are views for showing a variation of the mobile
phone in the three-slide position.

[0041]The best embodiments for realizing the present invention will be
explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In
the present description and drawings, the structural elements which have
essentially the same functional structure are indicated by the same
reference numerals in order to omit overlapping explanations.

[0042]In order to make the present embodiment easily understood, a mobile
phone is used as an electronic device. In the following, the general
structure of the mobile phone of the present embodiment is explained, and
then the input interface switching method for the mobile phone is
explained.

[0043]FIG. 1 is a block diagram for illustrating schematic functions of
the mobile phone 100. FIG. 2 is a perspective view for illustrating the
schematic structure of the mobile phone 100. The mobile phone 100
comprises a display housing 120 and an operation housing 150 which are
movable (slidable) relatively to a facing surface to the display housing
120 in substantially parallel. The display housing 120 has an audio
output unit 122 and a first display unit 124. The operation housing 150
has a terminal control unit 152 for a controller, a memory 154, a
position detection unit 156, an application deciding unit 158, a second
display unit 160, a touch panel 162, an audio input unit 164 and a
wireless communication unit 166.

[0044]The audio output unit 122 includes a speaker. The unit 122 converts
a call partner's audio signal received by the mobile phone 100 to sound
and outputs the sound. The audio output unit 122 can also output a call
sound, an operation sound of the input interface comprised of the second
display unit 160 and the touch panel 162 and an alarm sound etc.

[0045]The first display unit 124 is made of a color or monochrome liquid
crystal display or of an Organic Electro Luminescence display etc. The
first display unit 124 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) of an
applications such as Web content or a scheduler which are stored in the
memory 154 in the mobile phone 100 or supplied via communication network
from an application relay server (not shown in the drawings).

[0046]The terminal control unit 152 is made of integrated circuits
including a Central Processing Unit (CPU). The terminal control unit 152
manages and controls the whole mobile phone 100. The terminal control
unit 152 uses programs stored in the memory 154 to execute various
applications run on the mobile phone 100, such as a calling program, a
character inputting program, a sound player, an imaging program, a TV
viewer, a Web browser etc.

[0047]The memory 154 can be comprised of ROM, RAM, E2PROM, non-volatile
RAM, a flash memory and HDD and stores programs and data files processed
by the terminal control unit 152.

[0048]The position detection unit 156 is made of a magnetic sensor and
detects a relative position of the display housing 120 and the operation
housing 150. The mobile phone 100 according to the present embodiment has
the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150 which slide step by
step. So, the position detection unit 156 has to detect only discrete
sliding positions and therefore does not have to have a high resolution.
The position detection unit 156 may therefore use a small and inexpensive
sensor. The position detection unit 156 may be made of, instead of a
magnetic sensor, a photo sensor or a physical switch. As explained below,
the present embodiment uses a four-step sliding structure.

[0049]The application deciding unit 158 decides an application to be
activated in accordance with the relative position of the display housing
120 and the operation housing 150 detected by the position detection unit
156. In other words, applications correspond to the relative positions of
the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150 beforehand. When
both of the housings are slid and the relative position thereof is
changed, an application corresponding to the changed relative position is
activated. The mobile phone 100 can also run several applications at the
same time. In this case, the mobile phone 100 displays one of the several
running applications on the first display unit 124. The application
deciding unit 158 switches the several running applications to be
displayed on the first display unit 124.

[0050]When the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150 are slid
to a relative position, the application deciding unit 158 measures the
time for which both of the housings keep a stationary state at the
relative position. If the unit 158 senses that both of the housings keep
the stationary state for a predetermined time or more, it activates an
application corresponding to the relative position. In this way, even
when the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150 are slid to a
sliding position for activating a desired application by way of another
sliding position for activating another application, it is possible to
prevent the another application from being activated.

[0051]The second display unit 160 is made of a color or monochrome liquid
crystal display or of an Organic Electro Luminescence display etc. The
second display unit 160 displays operation keys for receiving user's
input. The touch panel 162 is arranged on the surface of the second
display unit 160. The touch panel 162 is touched by a user's finger etc.
and receives input to an operation key displayed at the position touched
by the user on the second display unit 160. That is to say, the second
display unit 160 and the touch panel 162 constitute an input interface.

[0052]The input interface displayed on the second display unit 160 and on
the touch panel 162 can have any type of operation keys of any
arrangement in order to receive inputs corresponding to the arrangement.
So, the type and arrangement of the operation keys in the input interface
can be changed for each application decided by the application deciding
unit 158, and make the application so easy to handle.

[0053]Accordingly, when the application deciding unit 158 selects, for
example, a digital camera as an application to be activated (or as an
application to be displayed on the first display unit 124, selected from
several applications being activated at the same time), the mobile phone
100 displays on the second display unit 160 operation keys such as
"shutter" and "zoom" in order to prepare an input interface exclusively
for the digital camera. When the application deciding unit 158 selects a
calling program, the mobile phone 100 changes operation keys displayed on
the second display unit 160 to a ten key, a calling key and a call
termination key in order to prepare another input interface exclusively
for the calling program.

[0056]The audio input unit 164 is made of a sound recognition device such
as a microphone. It converts a voice of a user input during a call to
electric signal which can be processed in the mobile phone 100.

[0057]The wireless communication unit 166 executes wireless communication
with the base station 170 by way of the mobile phone network. For such
wireless communication protocol, there is a time division multiple access
(TDMA) method which executes communication so that a plurality of time
slots are created by dividing frames by time at the base station 120 are
allotted to respective channels of the mobile phone 100.

[0058]FIG. 3 are views for illustrating a relationship between two
housings' relative positions and corresponding applications to be
activated. The open/close position of the slidable mobile phone 100 is
changed by relative shifting (sliding) the display housing 120 and the
operation housing 150 substantially in parallel to facing surface. The
second display unit 160 is formed on the surface which is exposed when
the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150 are in the open
position. Accordingly, when they are in the close position, the second
display unit 160 is covered by the display housing 120. The second
display unit 160 displays the operation screen on its whole surface.

[0059]For example, the close position is defined as the position of the
closed slidable mobile phone 100 illustrated in FIG. 3A. In addition,
there are one-slide position of FIG. 3B assigned to the TV viewer,
two-slide position of FIG. 3C assigned to the imaging program,
three-slide position of FIG. 3D assigned to the sound player and
final-slide position of FIG. 3E assigned to the character inputting
program for the calling program, an electronic mailer or a scheduler.

[0060]As above, relative positions (sliding positions) of the display
housing 120 and the operation housing 150 correspond to applications to
be activated. Therefore, a user can easily know, from the appearance of
the mobile phone 100, which application is currently activated.
Therefore, a user can recognize, from the relative position of both of
the housings, that a desired application is activated, without referring
to the contents displayed on the first display unit 124.

[0061]Some applications can decide their own termination timings. When
applications such as a TV viewer or a sound player is used, a user may
prefer to display the application different ways, for example in a
compact size, and keep running it after activation of it. When running
such an application, the application once activated is kept being run
until the user terminates the application, regardless of the sliding
position of the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150. In
this way, the user can keep an application being run intentionally,
regardless of the sliding position of the display housing 120 and the
operation housing 150.

[0062]FIG. 4 are views for illustrating the appearance of the mobile phone
100 in the close position. The display housing 120 and the operation
housing 150 are completely overlapped and therefore the second display
unit 160 and the touch panel 162 are not exposed. So, operation of the
mobile phone 100 can be limited. In the close condition of FIG. 4, the
first display unit 124 displays a wall paper such as a calendar or a
clock and displays phone number or registered name of a call partner when
receiving a call.

[0063]FIGS. 5A and 5B are views for illustrating the appearance of the
mobile phone 100 in one-slide position. As shown in those drawings, a
part of the operation housing 150 is exposed and a TV viewer is
activated. Then, the second display unit 160 displays an operation block
168 including one or more operation keys for changing channels. A user
may select a TV channel by touching either one of the operation keys, in
the operation block 168, on which triangles indicate right and left
sides.

[0064]FIG. 6 are views for illustrating the appearance of the mobile phone
100 in two-slide position. As shown in those drawings, an exposed area of
the operation housing 150 is expanded and imaging program is activated.
Then, on the second display unit 160, operation blocks 168 are displayed.
The operation blocks 168 include operation keys such as a shutter key
indicated by a circle, a zoom key indicated by marks "+" and "-" and a
video switch key. A user may touch the operation key "+" or "-" of the
operation blocks 168 in order to zoom in or zoom out an image to be
obtained, may touch the operation key indicated by a circle in order to
carry out imaging, and may touch the operation key "video" in order to
select video imaging mode.

[0065]FIG. 7 are views for illustrating the appearance of the mobile phone
100 in three-slide position. As shown in those drawings, an exposed area
of the operation housing 150 is further expanded and a sound player is
activated. Then, on the second display unit 160, operation blocks 168 are
displayed. The operation blocks 168 include operation keys such as a
track change key, a volume adjustment key, a repeat playing key "Repeat"
a menu image displaying key "Menu." A user may touch the operation key
".tangle-solidup." or "" of the operation blocks 168 in order to select a
track to be played, may touch the operation key "+" or "-" in order to
adjust the volume.

[0066]FIG. 8 are views for illustrating the appearance of the mobile phone
100 in four-slide position (final-slide position). As shown in those
drawings, an exposed area of the operation housing 150 is furthest
expanded and calling function and character inputting function can be
executed. A user may touch the ten key and full key displayed on the
second display unit 160 in order to input the phone number of a call
partner or other characters. As well as an ordinary mobile phone, one or
more characters are assigned to each numeral of ten key of the second
display unit 160 illustrated in FIG. 8A. A user can input characters by
selecting and changing the assigned characters.

[0067]The operation blocks 168 are, in the second display unit 160,
arranged regularly to some extent. For example, an exposed part of the
second display unit 160 is divided into equal-sized areas arranged along
the sliding direction (relative movement direction) of the display
housing 120 and the operation housing 150. Each divided area is a single
operation block 168 to which an operation key is assigned. For instance,
as shown in FIG. 5A, the up/down keys (two opposite triangle keys in the
drawing) for switching TV channels are arranged respectively at the both
ends of a single operation block 168. As shown in FIG. 6, the operation
keys for selecting a track to be played (two opposite triangle keys in
the drawing) are arranged respectively at the both ends of a single
operation block 168. The operation keys "+" and "-" are arranged
respectively at the both ends of another single operation block 168.

[0068]In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 8, every sliding
step of the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150 increases
or decreases two operation blocks. However, the number of operation block
is changed not only by this manner. Every sliding step of both of the
housings may increase or decrease one or three operation block(s).

[0069]As above, by assigning operation blocks, each of which is a unit of
display area for displaying the operation keys, to each application in
common, those operation blocks become a guide for inputting areas.
Therefore, a feeling of wrongness by changing the operation keys for each
application given to a user is reduced and a feeling of comfortableness
can be given to the user.

[0070]In the present embodiment, the display of the operation block(s) 168
on the second display unit 160 is changed in accordance with the
detection of a touch on a position in the touch panel 162 corresponding
to the operation blocks 168. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4A
to 8B, it is possible to carry out predetermined functions even in the
case that the effective area of the input interface is changed, and the
function, arrangement and number of the operation blocks 168 are changed.

[0071]By sliding the display housing 120 and the operation housing 150,
the effective area of the input interface is increased or decreased. So,
it is preferable to assign an application to each relative position by
taking account of the number of operation blocks required for each
application, so that an appropriate number of operation blocks 168 are
assigned to each application.

[0072]The touch panel 162 may have a mechanical structure such as grooves,
in accordance with the operation blocks 168 regularly arranged on the
second display unit 160.

[0073]FIG. 9 are views for illustrating the form of the touch panel 162.
As shown in the front view of FIG. 9A, the slidable mobile phone 100 of
the present embodiment is provided with grooves 190 formed on the touch
panel 162 of the operation housing 150 at the positions corresponding to
application-switching positions of the edge 180 of the display housing
120. Areas of the touch panel 162 corresponding to the operation blocks
168 between the grooves 190 are formed as protrusions to which the
operation keys are assigned. Therefore, as shown in A-A sectional view of
FIG. 9B, the touch panel 162 is provided with regular forms corresponding
respectively to the relative positions i.e. a plurality of trapezoidal
forms arranged in the relative movement direction 182. In order to enable
a user to touch the operation blocks easily, the grooves 190 should have
not so short but appropriate distance therebetween.

[0074]According to the above structure, the regular arrangement of the
operation blocks 168 is more clearly defined so that a user can grasp the
functions and positions of the operation blocks 168 rapidly and can have
comfortableness.

[0075]If it were difficult to form the touch panel 162 itself as the
above-mentioned repeated regular form, a plastic formed as the repeated
regular form may be applied to the touch panel 162 in order to the same
structure.

[0076]By combining the above-mentioned second display unit 160 and the
touch panel 162, it is possible to form various operation blocks 168. As
a further advantage of the above combination, it enables a user to change
(customize) the predetermined functions and arrangement of the operation
blocks 168. For example, a user can decide the correspondence of the
relative positions of the display housing 120 and the operation housing
150 to applications as desired. The user also can decide the functions
and arrangement of the operation blocks 168 for each application as
desired.

[0077]FIG. 10 are views for illustrating an arrangement variation of the
operation blocks 168 wherein the activating positions for the TV viewer
and the imaging program shown in FIGS. 5 to 6 are changed. In this case,
as shown in FIG. 10A, one-slide relative position is assigned to the
imaging program and as shown in FIG. 10B, two-slide relative position is
assigned to the TV viewer.

[0078]Besides, it is possible to decide an arrangement of the operation
keys specific to each user. For example, for a child or old people who do
not need a complicated input interface, the needless operation keys can
be eliminated and only operation keys easy to operate can remain.

[0079]FIG. 11 are views for illustrating a simple arrangement of the
operation keys. In the drawings, calling program illustrated in FIGS. 8A
and 8B is used so that each single operation key is assigned to each
single operation block 168. That is to say, there are speed dial keys for
desired calling partners ("1. FATHER," "2. MOTHER," and "3. HOME") and
call termination key (PWR), and each key is assigned to a single
operation block. Only by seeing such calling partners displayed on the
second display unit 160 and touching the positions thereof, a user can
easily and rapidly call a desired calling partner.

[0080]According to the customized arrangement of the operation keys stated
above, a user can arrange an operation block 168 for preventing crimes in
position and size easy to push. A user also can arrange the operation
keys easy to operate for both a right-handed person and a left-handed
person. So, it is possible to customize the mobile phone 100 for really
ideal operation and the usability of the mobile phone 100 is further
improved.

[0081]In this context, each operation block 168 is customized manually.
However, appropriate keys may also be assigned to the operation blocks
168 beforehand in order to prepare several modes such as junior and
senior modes for possible users.

(Input Interface Switching Method)

[0082]In the following, an input interface switching method is explained.
The method is used in the mobile phone 100 comprised of the display
housing 120 having the above-stated first display unit 124 and of the
operation housing 150 having the second display unit 160 and the touch
panel 162.

[0083]FIG. 12 is a flowchart for illustrating the input interface
switching method in detail. According to the input interface switching
method, when a user slides the mobile phone 100 so that the relative
position is changed (step S200), the position detection unit 156 detects
the relative position of the display housing 120 and the operation
housing 150 (step S202). In accordance with the detected relative
position, an application and the function of arrangement of the operation
blocks 168 displayed on the operation screen is switched (step S204).

[0084]When it is detected that the user touches a position of the touch
panel 162 over an operation block 168 (step S206), the switched
application executes a function corresponding to the operating block 168
(step S208). By repeating such a step for detecting the relative position
(step S202) and a step for executing the corresponding function (step
S208), desired functions can be performed.

[0085]In the case of the above-stated embodiment, even if the number of
functions is increased, it is possible to keep the portability of the
mobile phone by maintaining the area for the second display unit 160 and
the touch panel 162. It is also possible to improve the usability of the
mobile phone by providing a number of functions which can be activated
easily and rapidly and useful input interface. Besides, since only
indispensable operation blocks 168 have to be prepared for each
application, the area for the second display unit 160 can be reduced. It
would be an advantage when making a more compact and lighter portable
terminal in the future.

[0086]Although the present invention has been described with reference to
the preferred embodiments while referring to the accompanying drawings,
it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details
described thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been
suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of
ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and
modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.

[0087]For example, in the embodiment described above, a slidable
electronic device is explained. However, the invention is not limited to
the embodiment, but can be applied to other various electronic devices
transformed for example by folding or rotating the housings. The second
display unit may display the operation blocks in accordance with the
relative movement.

[0088]In addition, the applications activated by sliding the housings are
not only those of the above-stated embodiment but may be other various
applications. For example, FIG. 13 are views for showing a variation of
the mobile phone 100 of FIG. 7 in the three-slide position. In FIG. 13,
Web browser is activated at the three-slide position. The second display
unit 160 displays operation blocks 168 for transferring between Web
sites, displaying favorite Web sites, moving the cursor and making a
decision. A user touches the right and left triangles on a operation
block 168 in order to transfer from one Web site to another, and touches
arrows at the four corners in order to move the cursor.

[0089]Furthermore, each process in the input interface switching method of
the present description does not have to be performed in a chronological
order according to the order described in the flow chart. The processes
may also be performed in parallel or by a subroutine.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF THE INVENTION

[0090]The present invention can be applied to an electronic device in
which a display housing and an operation housing are coupled so that they
are movable relative to each other, and to an input interface switching
method for the electronic device.